NBN price war hits Canberra

The first published prices for access to the national broadband network this week prompted the Coalition to claim they prove Australians will pay more for the internet if the super-high-speed network is completed.

The government encouraged rival internet service providers to release their pricing plans, which it claims will show the NBN can offer cheaper broadband to more people than existing internet services.

Internode’s cheapest NBN plan will cost users $59.95 per month for speeds of 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and a download capacity of 30 gigabytes, roughly the same price and service offered to city customers today, and plans with speeds of 100 Mbps range from $99.95 to $189.95.

Malcolm Turnbull, the shadow Communications spokesman, told The Australian Financial Review the Coalition’s alternative broadband plan would deliver the same speeds at lower prices.

“I think it would because it would seek to enable facilities-based competition," he said. “It would not involve the establishment of a great big overcapitalised government monopoly.